Best Feats for Sun Soul Monk 5e
by Prince Phantom
This is the worst subclass of the worst class in 5e, and it isn’t even close. The abilities are worse than what a monk can do normally, and every single feature is a disappointment. The radiant sun bolt is intended to emulate that thing in Dragon Ball where a person throws a ton of weak energy blasts in quick succession, and if you’ve ever seen that show you know exactly how effective that strategy is. The big Kamehameha at level 11 is just Fireball 6 levels late, targeting a worse save, and not even dealing half damage on a save. If the enemy makes the save (and they probably will) they take no damage at all.
This subclass also wins the award for the worst capstone ever to see print, dealing a maximum of 10 damage as a reaction when we are hit, which is basically nothing at level 17. Worst of all is that these abilities seem to be worded specifically to have no synergies whatsoever through multiclassing, feats, or even magic items. This subclass is irredeemable in every conceivable way and you would genuinely be better off playing a subclassless monk. If you insist that you simply must experience the worst that 5e has to offer, here are some feats or something I guess…
Best Feats for Sun Soul Monk 5e
Crossbow Expert/Sharpshooter (ASAP): Just forget that Radiant Sun Bolt exists and grab a hand crossbow like a respectable member of society. You’ll be worse at this combo of feats than practically any other character, but at least you’ll deal somewhat respectable damage. And to answer your question, yes this does more damage than flurrying with radiant sun bolt at practically all levels of play, and doesn’t consume Ki. Also no, Sharpshooter does not work with radiant sun bolt because it’s a spell attack not a weapon attack. Ugh.
Fey/Shadow Touched (Lv 8): Fey is definitely the better of these two, but we’ve already made some bad decisions at this point, so what’s one more? Fey gives us a teleport with Misty Step and Silvery Barbs gives us something actually good that our teammates will appreciate us for. Shadow gives us Invisibility for stealth situations and probably Silent Image, which is a spell that creative players can get a lot of mileage out of. It’s also a half feat which is very good for monks as they desperately want to improve their ability scores as much as possible.
Ritual Caster (Lv 8): This at least gives us cool stuff to do outside of combat, which is more than we would be able to say otherwise. We aren’t interested in any cantrips, so this is a better method of getting a familiar than Magic Initiate. Make sure to talk to your DM about gaining more rituals as you progress through the campaign.
Resilient Wisdom (Lv 12): It’s highly unlikely that an intelligent enemy is going to deem you a worthy target of a spell, but just in case they do, this will protect us from the vast majority of things we are scared of.
Lucky/Tough (Lv 16): Yeah I’m already out of feats that help this subclass. These two are generically good defensive options that any character will appreciate. If any of you have actually managed to play this subclass to this level, you deserve a medal and probably a mental health checkup.
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